ITER: Promises unkept ? (1/2)

<!--HTML-->Fusion power as the source of energy on Earth has been the dream of mankind ever since the principles were understood. ITER, the Latin word for “the way”, is the world’s largest Fusion device presently under construction in Cadarache, France. Supported by the People’s Republic of China, the European Atomic Energy Community, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation, and the United States of America, an international organization was founded after the signature of the Joint ITER Agreement in October of 2006. The goal is to build a Fusion reactor with a power amplification of 10, a total fusion power of 500 MW or more operating at extended burn times of 400-3000 seconds, with Deuterium and Tritium as its basic fuel. Following a short introduction into fusion science principles, the history of thermo nuclear fusion will be covered. Finally more recent construction projects around the world, their latest achievements and the path to ITER will be described. Technological and scientific challenges of ITER together with their foreseen solutions will be then presented in more detail.